[SHDN]: West Slope leaders have been upping their game in protecting Upper Colorado River basin water for fear trans-basin diversions will threaten the health of rivers and natural Grand Lake. What have you accomplished thus far to help West Slope water efforts and what do you plan to do on behalf of those efforts as U.S. Senator?
[Udall]: My efforts on water have been to "bridge the divide" -- working together to provide for the water needs of all of Colorado and not pit one region against another. In that spirit, I strongly opposed Referendum A, the 2003 ballot issue that would have given the state a $2 billion blank check to build water projects on the West Slope and transfer that water eastward without any protections or compensation for West Slope communities. In addition, I urged the Denver Water Department to work collaboratively with Grand County and others to address potential negative impacts to the Fraser River related to the Department's expansion of the Moffat Tunnel diversions, introduced legislation requiring the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to grant "cooperating agency" status under the National Environmental Policy Act to counties like Grand County affected by water diversion projects (H.R. 3465), and I urged the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to include all users of the Green Mountain Reservoir in any requirement to maintain a minimum level of water in that reservoir and not place all of that responsibility on the Western Slope users. I also voted for the final passage of the Animas La Plata water storage project near Durango to satisfy the water needs of the Ute Tribes and the communities of that region, and in all wilderness and public lands legislation I have worked on -- including the James Peak Wilderness, Rocky Mountain National Park Wilderness, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Spanish Peaks, and Colorado Canyon -- I have made sure that West Slope water rights have been protected. I plan to continue to work for all of Colorado to develop consensus-based solutions to water issues and make sure that we do not return to the water wars of the past.
This is also an area where Bob Schaffer and I are very different. Bob Schaffer supported the fundamentally flawed Referendum A in 2003, which nearly 85 percent of Grand County opposed. In fact, Referendum A was defeated in every single county in Colorado. Congressman Schaffer also backed a court decision that would have made water from the Blue Mesa Reservoir on the Gunnison River available for sale. Water is a precious resource on the Western Slope. We shouldn't be selling it to the highest bidder.
